A Day in the Life of a Yacht Stewardess

I need to dispel for you the myth that there’s something fabulous about working on a yacht. It’s absolutely fabulous to own a yacht, to charter a yacht, or to be a guest on a yacht. Those all entail tanning on the deck of a massive luxury yacht and relaxing under the golden Mediterranean sun while someone serves you champagne and canapés. That’s fabulous. But being a stewardess on a yacht means I’m the one serving that champagne, after having worked since the break of dawn to clean the entire interior of the yacht and to run around preparing everything the guests could possibly need, along with the help of my interior crew. We make the boat run smoothly (along with the deckies, engineers, and captains, of course!) and we work tirelessly to create a luxury experience for the guests. For those of you looking to get into this industry or those just interested in what goes on behind the scenes, I’m going to show you what a day in the life of a yacht stewardess looks like.

There are a lot of different job tasks that fall upon a stewardess, and there are a number of factors that determine what her day will look like. How big is the yacht? Is it motor or sail? Is the boss on board? Is it private or chartered? How many are on the interior crew? Is the yacht at sea, anchored, or at port? There are a million ways that her day can vary and so I don’t purport to represent what every yacht stew does every day. But this is an example of what an actual day in the life of a yacht stewardess looks like, because I recorded my day on snapchat last week. And this is what transpired. If you want to keep up with my day-to-day, follow me on snapchat: brittfromboston.

Day in the Life of a Yacht Stewardess

0700 Alarm goes off, open eyes enough to see morning sun reflecting off the water out my porthole

0715 Manage to drag self out of bed

0730 Turn on coffee machine then go out to dining room to clear boss’ breakfast

0740 Drink coffee and eat cereal before the day begins

0750 Clean dishes from my breakfast and the boss’

0800 Clean the kitchen top to bottom, including sink, countertops, refrigerator, cabinets, and floors

0900 Vaccuum entire first floor

0920 Mop entire first floor

0930 Air out small rugs, putting my frustrations into the shaking of the rugs

0940 Wipe off all counters and surfaces of the first floor, including the porcelain bulldog who I have named Billy the Bulldog

1000 Open all portholes to aerate cabins

1005 Vacuum stairs down to cabins and floors in all cabins, in disbelief about the amount of dust that collects in one day

1020 Re-make the beds to perfection, ready for any unexpected magazine photo shoot

1030 Scrub all aluminum in bathrooms to decalcify and restore picture-perfect shine

1115 Go on a walk to the boulangerie in town to fetch the daily rations of baguette (a.k.a. the best part of my day, oh sweet freedom!)

1130 Avoid judgemental look of boulangerie lady who thinks I buy two full baguettes for myself each day in some odd attempt to become obese. Decide to buy myself a pain au chocolat to really make her wonder.

1132 Pain au chocolat is even more delicious than I remembered. Feeling renewed sense of passion about work and life and pastries.

1245 Time to eat! Deli meat on fresh baguette, oh it’s too good to be true!

1315 Back to work, sad emoji face. Ask boss what needs to be done this afternoon, with my fingers crossed that he says ‘nothing.’

1316 No such luck. He has more for me to clean.

1320 Dust the window blinds throughout the yacht

1350 Apply stiff bristled brush to carpets to fluff them up. Consequently extract more heaps of dust that had been hiding within the carpets.

1430 Re-vacuum all carpets

1500 Boss has taken another shower, time to re-clean the bathroom. Wonder to self how water has managed to flung to all the places I now find it, on ceilings, mirrors, and across the room from the actual shower.

1520 Begin doing boss’ laundry

1530 Hand-wash all towels, rags, and shammies that I’ve used so far today, as actual washing machine would surely destroy fabric. Consider adding ‘Human Washing-Machine’ to my business cards.

1550 Hang rags on a line on the top deck, feeling this makes our boat look like we cannot afford a washer and dryer.

1600 Hang to dry the boss’ laundry

1620 Start a load of crew laundry

1645 Recruited to help polish aluminum on the yacht’s exterior. Very satisfying as boat looks shiny like new afterwards!

1800 Switch crew laundry to dryer, no special hang dry treatment for us!

2000 Madame is back, time to prepare dinner for her and boss. Fresh salad and fish, very jealous of their meal.

2020 Serve dinner to the boss and madame.

2025 Clean kitchen from dinner prep

2045 Serve ice cream and espresso for dessert

2100 Clear table and wash dishes.

2120 Clean kitchen to perfect like-new condition again, for perhaps third or fourth time today.

2145 Set table for breakfast including platter of non-refrigerated items. Prepare cold platter and leave in fridge.

2200 Check with boss, nothing more to do today. Hooray! Pass out in bed, beyond exhausted. No days off in weeks, no day off in sight. Existing only to work, eat, and sleep. That’s just a day in the life of a yacht stewardess. And tomorrow, I’ll get up and do it all again.

Want to know more about yachting? Think you’d like to take a try at working on yachts yourself? I’ve written a comprehensive guide to getting rich working on yachts, which you get right here:

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